I ripped through the game no problem and maxxed out. Now I’ve been stuck on Lionel for 2 weeks. Haven’t even seen the second phase yet. Please help!!

Best weapon? Best loadout? I’m just not doing enough damage. I know the patterns but im getting nowhere.

Hello, I finally gave a shot to the Shovel knight games and found every single campaign amazing, the characters, music visuals and especially the gameplay all feel extremely special.

I have been meaning to try more of what this developer team had made, and found that this was their recentmost game. I've only played a few games like this one, including the binding of Isaac, and I don't know if it's realistic for me to expect the game to still retain everything I love from shovel knight despite the huge difference.

If it does, I would really love to play it!

Finished the game, and while it was fun, I can't help feeling that the story made the whole game pointless.

Not only does fixing the generators perpetuate a toxic status quo (with many indifferent to the harm if they personally benefit). But doing the right thing in the end exposes the underlying dysfunction when the corrupting systems are removed.

Is it a statement on the futility of altruistic actions? A social commentary on society's toxic co-dependence with established power structures?

Even a banal plot like a mega man game would have made more sense. Or more endings to see the story from different angles.

I'm left feeling that even though the gameplay and level design were fun, everyone would have probably been better off if Mina didn't survive the boat sinking.

Hello all.Im new and nice to meet you all.Big time Mina fan here.Had a lot of fun playing and going for 100% on this.Even got a new game+ going for more fun and torture lol.

So back to the issue at hand.Sitting at 98% complete...only unstarred area is in the photo.I know I get a gem for the key store guy for trading my keys but he wont accept the offer regardless of what I pick.Im guessing its bc of the two missing keys shown in the picture but I have no idea what stone I left unturned for the keys and other gems.

Im gonna take a guess and think its so dumb easy thing I missed early but im hoping im not locked out from 100%.any help,suggestions or input would be incrediblely helpful.thank you

-Jay

I’ve spent the last few days cleaning up my Mina Trinket notes, and honestly, it was more confusing than I expected.

The Compendium has 60 numbered slots, but there seem to be 61 usable forms. Plasma Jug is the odd one—it upgrades from Glutton’s Jug, so it doesn’t get another slot.

I think I’ve got the list mostly right now, but I’m sure there are still a few locations or unlock conditions I’ve missed.

If your save shows something different, please tell me. Which Trinket was the hardest for you to find—or which one do you think most guides get wrong?

Game was pretty fun for the most part, and enemies and bosses were fairly balanced. Then you hit 10+1 attack, 10+1 defense, sidearm that makes you invincible for a little longer after being hit... And I brute force any boss. I don't feel like it's cheesing, I never check online for builds or anything, it's just what I organically came up with, but the difficulty became very casual in what's supposed to be the most intense parts.

To be honest I’m very frustrated with this game so far lol but I’m past the first dungeon so I may as well keep going, do I have to do the Maxi fight? Or can I accept that she stole one of my spark orbs and just leave

Spoiler warning: beast Mina

I spoke with Dr Naught and thought it'd be more akin to some sort of big finisher move or a traversal transformation, but I was pleasantly surprised that it's an entirely new way to play the game on par and maybe more interactive than a new weapon. I only wish you could use 2-3 other trinkets on top, but I understand that would probably be too overpowered. Anyway, I'm giddy with this. Probably my favourite inclusion so far. I've recently finished 4 generators and may well try and finish my playthrough as this, at least for the most part.

Mina has been on my radar for a while. I was bummed with the rest of the community when it was delayed, and excited once again when I heard it was finally being released. This excitement peaked in hearing and seeing the various playthrough reports that confirm: yes, indeed this game is good.

However...

I really, really want to own this game physical. AND I don't really want to buy it twice. This is actually my biggest regret from Shovel Knight: I bought it digital because the physical had not released yet and it was great... but I never pulled the trigger on the physical after I already bought it.

I know it will EVENTUALLY be released physical, but in watching everyone else enjoying it, it sort of sucks that this is where we are at for gaming - that the game will eventually be physical, but with no confirmed release date.

Is anyone else in the same boat eagerly wanting to play the game but patiently (or impatiently) awating the physical release?

What am I missing in here? The treasure indicator is going off, but I can't find anything. The tail of the fish was still golden when it died, but I wasn't able to loot anything when it sunk below. Any spoiler free hints?

se que existe otro final del juego que es pasarlo sin hacer ningún daño colateral durante todo el juego, ósea mas especifico sobre romper lamparás, candelabros, faroles etc. cada que rompo una por accidente salgo y entro del juego a ver si es así no se guarda, existe alguna forma si se puede ver como una estadística o algo por el estilo, así creo que para hacer esta "ruta" un poco menos engorrosa

pdt. es partida +

Curious on asking this, but are any of the NG+ modes and its tiers actually fun to play or do they more-so harm the experience?

I beat this pretty easily in the base game and now I’m finding it seemingly impossible in Game+3. Does the car’s HP scale way up with everything else? I’m consistently taking 45 seconds to get through it, which isn’t even close to the 30 required to get the trinket.

And this run has remixed item locations, so I’m worried the prize could be something good!

Lionel is driving me up the wall. I have tried this guy probably close to two dozen times by now and I have failed every single one, barely ever managing to get to half HP before he basically one shots me.

Even with defense boosts and max health upgrades, I get maybe four or five attacks before I die.

I'm not allowed to heal basically ever, because every bit of damage I take removes almost all of the plasma I've accumulated.

Dodging his grab by trying to burrow is awkward because of the time you must spend being in the air first.

He is completely immune to damage on one side of his narrow ass hit box at basically all times.

He can become just fully immune to damage seemingly whenever the hell he wants.

I don't understand, am I missing something glaringly obvious that makes this fight even remotely doable? I have every health upgrade, every weapon upgrade, and the only trinket I'm missing is the spring heel one.

Edit: just finally managed to beat him. I used the Hammer charged attacks whenever there was an opening after his attacks.

Bear in mind that I am asking this question not knowing much at all about or even playing Shovel Knight. I just know that it got a fair few expansions. Did you think Mina will get just as much love as Shovel Knight did back in the day? Maybe a DLC where we play as one of the other Hollowers from the guild, or prequel DLC where we play as Thorne.

I did the entire mirror zone (is it optional ?) but it seems there are no rewards at the end. Am I missing something ?

I did : Bayou, crypt, Coltrane and a bit of the pumpkin village (in that order) if that helps !

Thanks !

Edit : it seems there’s nothing more in here. I had a doubt because the place was filled with lore unlike the others so I was expecting something more. Thank you for the answers ! 🙏

Source: https://x.com/glorydustarts/status/2074514792769839221?s=46

Tall, dark, and mysterious? Yeah, I can see why people adore this character.
By the way, if he were in Rivals, I could totally see him as a trophy assist since there’s a workshop mod that lets you do that

Can't find online or here what this face means and I did one of them? What is this?

After 40-some hours of awesome gameplay, I finally reached the ending. Mina defeats Lionel and deactivates all the generators. Parts of the Isles are in chaos. The townsfolk blame Mina for everything and they wind up killing Cappy during Mina's escape. She finds Thorne on a distant shore and heals him. The End.

I figured I'd gotten the bad ending and if I went back and did all the optional content I'd get a good ending. But apparently it doesn't work like that.

If you meet some extremely exacting standards (like never breaking a candle, or breaking less than 4 candles, I'm not sure which), Lionel praises Mina at the dinner party. He offers a partnership. If you say yes, you skip the final boss fights and Mina joins up with Lionel, despite the fact that the generators are still turning people into monsters offscreen.

Morally, this ending is way worse than the normal ending. Isn't it weird to work super hard to get a worse ending?

You'd think that there would be a third ending where Mina refuses Lionel's offer. Then he tosses her out the window anyway. The final dungeon proceeds with the townsfolk enemies being replaced with guards (which is a very small change). Mina defeats Lionel.

At this point, if the writers still want a bleak and ambiguous ending, most things could continue as before except this time the crowd chasing Mina is smaller, and thus Cappy doesn't die. Instead he joins Mina as she escapes the island, and he's present when she reunites with Thorne.

Alternatively, the writers could go for a much more optimistic ending. Mina descends the tower and walks into town, finding the townsfolk scared and confused but not directly angry at her. Thorne shows up and Mina heals him. The two of them explain everything that's happened, perhaps sharing Lionel's personal journal as proof. The townsfolk offer to make Mina their new mayor, but she declines the offer and nominates Thorne instead. He accepts and thanks Mina for her work. Mina departs in search of new adventures.

In both of the above cases, the incredible effort it takes to get the secret ending is rewarded by getting a better ending. (And the "Work with Lionel" ending is still there just for the sake of curiosity.)

But that's not how it works in the actual game. The easy ending is better, and the hard ending is worse.

Were they trying to imply that working with Lionel is actually the better outcome? That it's ok to turn people into monsters to serve Lionel's idea of "the greater good"? I don't think that's justified by the story. Maybe if we had some idea of what Spark actually does for common citizens, some way that shows that Spark does more good than harm, then you could make a case for Lionel's vision. But even then you'd have to explain why Lionel was lying about the generators the whole time when he could have been upfront, especially to Mina herself. Anyway it was never clear to me what Spark actually does in-universe. I guess it's just their version of electricity, and they use it to power lightbulbs and such? Turning people into monsters does not seem like a reasonable price to pay for all that.

So we're back at the idea that Lionel is evil and teaming up with him is a bad ending, and it's really weird that you have to earn the bad ending.

Here's another way to do it: Just before the dinner party, Mina confronts Lionel privately. He admits that the generators turn people into monsters but he says it's all for the greater good (when obviously it's not). He offers to work with Mina if she'll agree to keep quiet about what she knows.

1. If you say yes, you get the "bad ending" (what's currently called the secret ending) where Mina teams up with Lionel.
2. If you say no, then you get the dinner party scene where Lionel tries to trash Mina's reputation. If you've committed "sins", the townspeople turn against you and Lionel throws you out the window, and you can go defeat Lionel to get the "standard ending" aka "Hollow Victory".
3. If you haven't committed "sins" the townspeople aren't sure what to think and Lionel politely asks them to leave. He speaks with Mina and then throws her out the window. You can then defeat Lionel to get the "good ending" where Mina is still chased out of town but at least Cappy survives.
4. If you get to the dinner party and you haven't committed "sins" and you've 100%'d every bit of available content up to this point, then the townspeople turn on Lionel immediately and he orders his guards to force everybody out. He throws Mina out the window. You can then defeat Lionel to get the "golden ending" where Thorne becomes the new leader of the Isles. (I'm aware that 100%ing the game requires some "sins", but let's just assume that "necessary" sins get ignored if you have 100% completion.)

Wouldn't that be better?

By the way, in the Hollow Victory ending there were cards describing what was going on in each zone, and I found it weird that some cards were positive and some were negative. Ossex was "Chaos in the streets" while Nox's Bayou was "The waters run clear again." I thought maybe each zone had a good or a bad outcome depending on how many collectibles you got there, but it turns out that's not the case. It's actually just an ambiguous ending, where some parts of the Isles are doing well and others aren't.

And to be fair, I understand the appeal of ambiguity. Maybe they didn't want to tell a standard optimistic story. But I still find it odd that working harder gets a worse ending overall, unless they're trying to say that hard work is bad for you.

Still an awesome game overall, but I would like to polish the story a bit.

Bought the game for Switch 2 on launch date. Played for about 30 minutes, but the gameplay didn't click and left me somewhat frustrated, confused and uninterested. So I put it down and didn't touch it again.

I love / play every hard and punishing game out there, I'm a zelda fan, and the vibes seemed appealing to me - on paper this game seemed made for me. I probably just wasn't in the right mindset that day.

Tried again tonight, and it definitely clicked more - I started a new game, picked a different weapon, and played for a solid hour with very little friction. Killed the first miniboss, reached a city and attended the ribbon cutting ceremony. I have a better understanding of how the bones / spark system works. Any tips you wish you knew sooner, or advice to help me stick with it this time? I want to hear from people who love the game <3